SELF Cover Girl Emmy Rossum Releases New Album of Old Songs

If you've read our February cover story, you already know that Emmy Rossum is both a gorgeous star and a fitness goddess. Plus, her magnetic performances in Shameless and her upcoming movie Beautiful Creatures (out 2/14) prove that she has serious acting chops. Given her impressive resume, it's easy to forget that she's also a singer.

We aren't talking about an auto-tuned starlet here: Emmy is a classically trained singer who got her start at age 7 with The Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus in New York City. That's right--while the rest of us were doodling in our Lisa Frank notebooks, she was singing with Pavarotti. That experience helped her land the coveted role of Christine in the movie adaptation of the Broadway hit The Phantom of the Opera when she was just 17.

As her acting career took off, she still found time to release the album Inside Out in 2007. The graceful songs experimented with ethereal looping effects, often similar to Imogen Heap or Enya. If you missed this album or haven’t revisited it in a few years, take a listen to standout tracks like “Slow Me Down” and “Anymore.”

For Sentimental Journey, out today, she offers fresh reinterpretations of classic songs. The album is intended to be a “musical calendar,” in which each track corresponds to a month–for example, her rendition of the Frank Sinatra hit “Summer Wind” fits with June.

Emmy explains that she wanted to focus on music that was from a pre-synth, pre-computer era. Sure, dubstep is great when you’re dancing in a club or sweating on the treadmill, but Emmy’s album is the perfect soundtrack for a lazy afternoon or a dinner party.

With the new album, Emmy takes the listener around the calendar and back in time. “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)” is melancholy and beautiful, demonstrating how well-suited her sweet vocals are for such standards.

Continuing the jazzy theme, she belts out the sultry, vintage melody on “Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down And Out).”

Clearly, Emmy’s talent extends far beyond the screen. She takes familiar tracks and infuses them with her own energy to create a wholly new sound. Listening to this laid-back album is the perfect way to wind down and relax–even if your schedule isn’t nearly as crazy as Emmy’s.